


Festival

by Amaraenta



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/M, I HOPE MY GIFTEE LIKES THIS, Other, a lot of papa xander, he is not a stoic dad he is soft and full of mush he is warm like mash potatoes, kanna is afraid of halloween ok, the domestic halloween fluff you didnt know you needed, xander is a soft dad and you cannot tell me otherwise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 03:49:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8430667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amaraenta/pseuds/Amaraenta
Summary: Xander tries his best to give everyone a taste of the sweeter times when they had time to celebrate Halloween | This is my present for the FEF "Trick or Treat" Gift Exchange!





	

**Author's Note:**

> My giftee was Mimi (mimiblargh) and I really hope they like this piece~ Writing a happy Xander gave me tooth-ache and I love it.
> 
> Have a happy Halloween, Mimi!! You're incredible and I hope you enjoy this piece, I put a lot of heart into it!!

Castle Krakenburg was already intimidating as is but when October comes around, Xander asks the castle to be decorated with black and orange. He doesn’t admit it but after taking the throne and becoming a father of two, he’s become quite the softie. Even though Nohr is still recovering from the war, he tries his best to give everyone a taste of the sweeter times when they had time to celebrate Halloween.

When he was a child, he remembered trick-or-treating with his mother around the castle town. After her passing, he’d still carve Jack-o-lanterns in silly costumes with Camilla and a tiny Leo. Elise and Corrin only carved pumpkins and tried on costumes once in the Northern Fortress, but they had to keep it a secret from his father. Back then life was so much simpler, and now that there was no war to fight, he could afford organizing a little Halloween celebration for everybody, including their new Hoshidan friends.

# ~

Three days before the party, Xander and Corrin decide to take time off from their royal duties to prepare their children for the celebration. If there was someone who was afraid of Halloween, it was their youngest son. 4-year-old Kana was afraid of becoming a monster like Shiro or a ghost like Dwyer even though they were just wearing costumes. The past Halloween, it took a lot of bribing and bags of candy to get his son to partake in the party. Looking for costumes could be more tiring than training sometimes.

“Mama I don’t wanna be a pumpkin! I just wanna be me!” Kana yells between tears as the tailors put down a fourth costume. Siegbert on the other hand had already declared he wanted to have a costume scarier than Shiro’s (and by that, he means he wants to be his father. Xander’s not too sure how he feels about that, but he trusts Corrin’s judgement).

“Kana, you’re still the same boy! It’s just a costume, love. You’ll only wear it for a little bit while you trick-or-treat with the rest of the kids” Corrin said as she kneeled down to Kana’s eye level. “Mama is going to protect you, yeah? You’re not going to become anything bad.”

“But Mama, Midori will be scared of me!” Little Kana bit his lip as tears threatened to fall from his wide eyes.

“Midori is a brave little girl, Kana. She won’t be afraid as soon as she knows it’s you.”

“B-but what if the people think I’m a bad p-plumpkin monster? And people’s houses are also s-scawee Mama!” Little Kana wailed again, hiccupping between tears.

“Hm, then what about being a pumpkin hero? People will think you are a good pumpkin then! A good pumpkin who will protect the people from all the spooky things. I’m sure they’re going to love you, and you’ll get so many candy too darling!” Corrin nervously side-eyed the tailors to do something quickly. They rushed around and wrapped a velvet cape around the pumpkin costume Kana refused.

“M-Mama…If I wear the c-costoom, will you and p-papa wear one too? Are you coming with us for sweets too?” Little Kana wiped his tears off, gazing expectantly at his mother.

“Of course we are, you silly bean! Mama and Papa will be there to protect you too, and so will Uncles Takumi, Ryoma and Leo and Aunts Elise, Camilla and Hinoka! And Azura too! All of us will protect you and your friends from all the spooky things. Everything is going to be okay, there will be nothing to fear okay? So what do you say, do you want to be my brave, cute pumpkin hero?” Corrin wiped Kana’s tears and softly caressed his hair. When he reluctantly nodded, she let out a sigh of relief she didn’t know she was holding and hugged her son tightly.

# ~

Pumpkin carving with his siblings and children is the highlight of Xander’s Halloween (as well as Jakob’s pumpkin cupcakes, but he doesn’t say that out loud). Something about doing activities with his siblings took him back to his childhood, when they’d carve pumpkins in the Northern Fortress and put candles inside.

For old time’s sake, they decided to follow the same order they did when they were children. Xander opened the pumpkins, Siegbert, Elise and Kana hollowed it out, Leo and Forrest drew the desired pattern and Corrin and Camilla took turns carving it.

The main hallway was decorated with the family’s pumpkins. Elise carved a bunny, Camilla picked a rose, Leo’s had the markings of Brynhildr, Kana picked a happy face after being convinced it was not possible to carve Corrin, Siegbert’s had a scary face and Corrin’s had the Hoshidan crest to remember the spirit of her mother, much like Xander’s had the Nohrian crest to remember their late father.

Something about the glowing pumpkins side by side made Xander warm inside. The sight of his whole family having fun (and almost throwing pumpkin pulp at each other) brought him a happiness he had long forgotten. The sight of his children curiously participating in the festival made him forget all political matters and enjoy the activities of the festival, not as king but as a brother and as a father.

# ~

The Halloween festival could be extremely fun or awfully chaotic. Either way, everyone was bound to love it.

Towns would be covered in carved pumpkin lanterns and merchants sold different types of goods and sweets. All worries would be cast aside to pray for the spirits of the deceased and for a bountiful harvests, all while pretending to be someone different.

Since the end of the war and the re-start of the tradition in Nohr, their Hoshidan allies had only gone trick-or-treating once so needless to say, their excitement was very noticeable, all but for one kid.

Through the entire walk through castle-town, little pumpkin Kana held firmly to King Siegbert’s hand while he clumsily held on to his candy bag. His parents told him it wouldn’t be scary but so far two ladies said they were ghosts, and for the four year old meeting a ghost is _terrifying_.

It doesn’t take long for Xander to notice his son’s unrest so he takes matters into his hands. Little Kana screeched as he was lifted up, believing he was being taken by a ghost.

“Calm down little one, it’s only Papa. I’ve got you!” Xander settled the kid on his shoulders, firmly grasping his feet while Kana grasped on to his golden curls.

“Papa, I t-thought it was a g-ghost taking me away. I wanna go with M-mama.” Kana hiccupped and wiped away his tears clumsily.

“Is that so, little one? Don’t worry, Papa will protect you from all the bad ghosts, okay? Mama is waiting for us at home, where there are no scary things” Xander rubbed his thumb on his child’s calf, trying to calm him down a bit.

“Papa, I’m s-scared”, the child mumbled.

“Now we can’t have that can we? The pumpkin hero himself? Scared? I might just be a monster taking him away!” Xander bounced Kana on his shoulders as he began running around the town’s fountain. Little Kana’s worries soon began a fit of laughter at his father’s antics, and his father was loving every second of it.

It didn’t take them long before regrouping with the rest of the kids and continuing trick-or-treating. The oldest children had decided to keep Midori, Percy, Kana and Kiragi away from the scariest houses and instead get plenty candy for them. By the time the festival ended, the children had already gathered enough candy to last them a week.

# ~

The fire crackled in the silence of the night. After a long day of fun, the royal family decided to head off to bed together, mostly because Siegbert and Kana were slightly afraid of sleeping on their own after listening to Odin’s terror stories. The two kids huddled together in the massive bed, snoring their worries away.

 Xander’s frame wrapped around Corrin’s much smaller one as they stared to the evening sky, feeling the cold breeze of a coming winter. His palm rubbed circles on her arms and she absent-mindedly toyed with one of his curls.

“I didn’t expect Siegbert to be more afraid than Kana. He was near the verge of tears while Kana was perfectly calm.” Corrin chuckled, leaning back into his chest.

“Agreed. Although we may have to talk to Leo about his retainer’s actions in the morning, it is not appropriate of him to scare children like that”. He replied, tracing circles on her ivory skin.

“Mm, maybe so. Anyways, I heard about how you gave Kana a ride all the way back to the castle; are you finally embracing paternity?”

“You hurt me my love. The sight of our child being terrified was unbearable, I simply did what any father would do to cheer up their child.”

“Will you give me a ride to bed too, Papa Xander?” Corrin amusedly mumbled, drowsiness lacing her voice.

Without a response, Xander proficiently carried his wife back inside their chambers. With a slight kick, he closed the doors that led to the balcony and then set her in bed next to their sleeping children. Xander laid down on the opposite side, snuggling Kana while she snuggled Siegbert.

Xander imprinted the image of his sleeping family in his mind before falling asleep as well. Maybe the festival preparations were hectic, but he would do them every day if they included snuggling his family and a plate full of candies in the following morning.

 


End file.
